Fifty-six pages in Joe Byrne's hand: Ned Kelly, 1878–1880
TL;DR — Ned Kelly’s 56-page Jerilderie Letter reached the police, not the press; Glenrowan fell on June 28, 1880; his sentence was confirmed and he was hanged November 11.
“Ned Kelly, Letter, known as the Jerilderie Letter, in Joe Byrne’s hand, February 1879, manuscript, gift of Bronwyn Binns, 2000, MS 13361.” That is how the State Library Victoria catalogues 56 small pages, about 110 by 187 millimeters, which a bank accountant carried to the Melbourne police in February 1879. The Victorian Heritage Database’s listing for the place where it begins reads: “Stringybark Creek was the location where three police officers were shot and killed by Ned Kelly on 26 October 1878.” Glenrowan, June 26 to 28, 1880, and a trial before Redmond Barry followed. Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) holds the “Minutes of meetings of the Executive Council on 3, 8 and 10 November 1880 which confirmed Kelly’s death sentence,” and the Old Melbourne Gaol records that he was hanged there on November 11, 1880.
Quick facts
- When
- October 26, 1878 (Stringybark Creek) · November 1878 (letter to Donald Cameron) · February 7 to 8, 1879 (Jerilderie) · June 26 to 28, 1880 (Glenrowan) · November 3, 8 and 10, 1880 (Executive Council) · November 11, 1880 (hanging) · 1881 (Royal Commission) · 1929 (exhumation) · 2008 (remains found at Pentridge) · 2009 (DNA test of the museum skull)
- Where
- Stringybark Creek near Mansfield, Victoria; Jerilderie, New South Wales; Glenrowan, Victoria; the Melbourne Gaol on Russell Street; Pentridge Prison
- Who
- Ned Kelly; Joe Byrne, Dan Kelly and Steve Hart; Sergeant Michael Kennedy, Constable Michael Scanlan, Constable Thomas Lonigan and Constable Thomas McIntyre; Donald Cameron; Samuel Gill and Edwin Living; Redmond Barry; David Gaunson
- Outcome
- Byrne, Dan Kelly and Hart died at Glenrowan; Ned Kelly was tried before Redmond Barry, his sentence was confirmed by the Executive Council and he was hanged on November 11, 1880, the 101st person hanged at the gaol. A Royal Commission on the police followed in 1881. Remains found at Pentridge in 2008 were identified as his and returned to his family
Stringybark Creek, October 26, 1878
The heritage listing names the dead: Sergeant Michael Kennedy, Constable Michael Scanlan and Constable Thomas Lonigan of the Mansfield police. “During the shoot-out at Stringybark Creek, three of the four police officers were killed, and Constable McIntyre escaped on Sergeant Kennedy’s horse.” The listing continues: “A reward of 100 pounds was posted for the capture of Ned Kelly. The reward for the capture of the gang members rose to 8000 pounds by the time of the Glenrowan siege.”
The earliest paper on the shooting is Constable Thomas McIntyre’s report, which PROV keeps with the telegrams describing the gang in armor at Glenrowan. PROV also holds, outside its Kelly Historical Collection, “The original proclamation of Kelly Gang Members as outlaws under the Felons Apprehension Act 1878.” The listing gives the Act’s name, not its clauses.
Two letters in Joe Byrne's hand
In November 1878 Donald Cameron, a member of the Victorian parliament, called for an inquiry into the police pursuit. Kelly answered with a letter to Cameron of 3,000 to 4,000 words, written down by Joe Byrne. Tim Hogan of the State Library Victoria wrote in 2023: “On the evening of 7 February 1879 the Kelly gang approached the small isolated town of Jerilderie in southern New South Wales.” The gang went to the Bank of New South Wales there the next day. Kelly wanted Samuel Gill, publisher of the Jerilderie and Urana Gazette, to print more than 8,000 words. Gill had fled the town. Kelly handed the pages to Edwin Living, the bank’s accountant, who “did not try to do this and as soon as the Kelly’s had left he made his way to Melbourne via a train from Deniliquin and handed over the letter to the Police.”
Pages 30 to 43 describe Stringybark Creek; page 43 has the passage most often reprinted, on the police as “a parcel of big ugly fat necked wombat headed big bellied magpie legged narrow hipped splay footed sons of Irish Bailiffs or english landlords which is better known as officers of justice or Victorian Police who some calls honest gentlemen.” The Melbourne Age printed a summary of about 4,000 words on February 18, 1879. The Argus of August 12, 1880, wrote that a copy had come into its possession “and we found it to be entirely unfit for publication.” After Kelly’s capture the police borrowed Living’s copy for the trial, made an official transcript of 17 pages from the 56, and returned the original. The library’s page states: “The letter wasn’t published at the time and its contents weren’t publicly known until the late 1940s, when a copy held by Public Record Office Victoria was published.”
June 26 to 28, 1880: Glenrowan
Heritage Victoria’s listing for the Glenrowan Heritage Precinct describes “the notorious siege leading to the capture of the bushranger, Ned Kelly, and the deaths of his gang members Joe Byrne, Dan Kelly and Steve Hart in June 1880.” Its listed elements include the railway station’s old platform, the “Kelly Log” where Ned Kelly fell and was taken, and the point to the east where the gang tried to derail a train. “The subsequent siege, the police cordon, the use of suits of armour by the gang members, the capture of Ned and the burning of the Glenrowan Inn are firmly implanted in Australian folklore.” The Kelly Papers listing describes “The four suits of armour made by the gang from plough blades and briefly worn at their final shoot out with the police at Glenrowan.”
Redmond Barry, three minutes and the gallows on Russell Street
PROV’s Crown Law Department series holds two trial briefs: “Queen v Edward Kelly (1880) for the wilful murder of Thomas Lonigan” and a second for the murder of Michael Scanlan, marked “trial not conducted.” Its capital case file contains “trial judge Redmond Barry’s notes of the trial,” “the letters dictated by Kelly at Pentridge Prison seeking the Governor’s mercy” and part of the petitions gathered by his lawyer David Gaunson. The Executive Council met on November 3, 8 and 10 and confirmed the sentence. On November 11, 1880, at the gaol at 377 Russell Street, “Ned Kelly becomes the 101st person hanged at the Gaol,” in the National Trust’s words.
The same page continues: “Immediately after his death public order was threatened in Melbourne and beyond; a major inquiry was held into the police and their actions.” That inquiry was the 1881 Royal Commission on the Police Force of Victoria, which, in Heritage Victoria’s words, “exposed police incompetence and corruption and helped change the way the Victorian police force was administered and operated.” PROV’s fifth series holds the minutes of evidence.
"The location of Kelly's skull remains a mystery"
The gaol closed in 1924 and was decommissioned in 1929, when the bodies of the hanged were dug out of the exercise yard. “Public onlookers rushed into the graves and souvenired the bones they thought belonged to Ned Kelly. A skull was removed from the same coffin by a contractor.” The remains were buried together at Pentridge Prison in 1929 and “remained undiscovered until 2008.” In the National Trust’s account, “Kelly’s remains were identified a year later and eventually returned to his family.” A different skull had been on show since the National Trust opened the gaol as a museum in 1972; it was stolen in 1978 and recovered in 2009. “At this time, a DNA check of a tooth belonging to this skull proved beyond doubt that the skull did not belong to Kelly.” The 56 pages stayed with Edwin Living until 1936; the skull shown on Russell Street from 1972 was, by the tooth tested in 2009, someone else’s.
Key facts
- Three Mansfield police officers, Sergeant Michael Kennedy, Constable Michael Scanlan and Constable Thomas Lonigan, were shot dead at Stringybark Creek on October 26, 1878; Constable Thomas McIntyre escaped on Kennedy’s horse (Heritage Victoria).
- The reward for Ned Kelly’s capture began at 100 pounds and had risen to 8,000 pounds for the gang by the time of Glenrowan (Heritage Victoria).
- PROV holds the original proclamation of the gang as outlaws under the Felons Apprehension Act 1878.
- The Jerilderie Letter, more than 8,000 words on 56 pages in Joe Byrne’s hand, was handed to bank accountant Edwin Living on February 8, 1879, and he took it to the Melbourne police (State Library Victoria).
- The police transcript of 1880 reduced the 56 pages to 17; the original reached the State Library Victoria in 2000 as MS 13361.
- Joe Byrne, Dan Kelly and Steve Hart died at Glenrowan on June 26 to 28, 1880, and Ned Kelly was taken at the “Kelly Log”; the four suits of armor were made from plough blades (Heritage Victoria).
- The Executive Council confirmed the death sentence on November 3, 8 and 10, 1880 (PROV); Kelly was hanged on November 11, 1880, the 101st person hanged at the Melbourne Gaol (National Trust).
- Remains buried at Pentridge in 1929 were found in 2008 and Kelly’s were identified a year later; a DNA test of a tooth in 2009 showed the skull displayed from 1972 was not his (National Trust).
FAQ
Where is the Jerilderie Letter now?
At the State Library Victoria, catalogued as MS 13361, "in Joe Byrne's hand, February 1879," a gift of Bronwyn Binns in 2000. The library states that the text was not publicly known until the late 1940s, when a copy held by Public Record Office Victoria was published.
When was Ned Kelly hanged?
On November 11, 1880, at the Melbourne Gaol on Russell Street, after the Executive Council had confirmed the sentence at meetings on November 3, 8 and 10. The National Trust counts him as the 101st person hanged there.
Were Ned Kelly's remains ever found?
Yes. Bodies exhumed from the gaol in 1929 were reburied at Pentridge Prison and stayed undiscovered until 2008. The National Trust states that Kelly's remains were identified a year later and returned to his family, and that a skull displayed at the gaol from 1972, stolen in 1978 and recovered in 2009, was proved by a DNA test of a tooth not to be his.
Sources
- State Library Victoria, "Jerilderie letter" (collection page for MS 13361: catalogue line, gift of Bronwyn Binns 2000, and the note on the 1940s publication of the PROV copy).
- State Library Victoria, Such Was Life blog, Tim Hogan, "The Jerilderie Letter," November 9, 2023 (the Cameron letter, the events of February 7 to 8, 1879, Gill and Living, the 56 pages and their path to the library, the Age and Argus responses, quoted passages).
- Heritage Victoria, Victorian Heritage Database, "Stringybark Creek Site" (Place ID 13107: the three officers, McIntyre's escape, the 100-pound and 8,000-pound rewards, the memorial of October 26, 2001).
- Heritage Victoria, Victorian Heritage Database, "Glenrowan Heritage Precinct" (Place ID 4073: the events of June 26 to 28, 1880, and the listed elements of the siege site).
- Heritage Victoria, Victorian Heritage Database, "Kelly Papers" (Place ID 14253, PROV records H2114: the four suits of armour, McIntyre's report and the Glenrowan telegrams, the petitions for reprieve, the 1881 Royal Commission).
- Public Record Office Victoria, "Kelly records not in the Kelly Historical Collection" (the outlawry proclamation under the Felons Apprehension Act 1878, the Executive Council minutes of November 3, 8 and 10, 1880, the Police Commission interim report of October 11, 1882).
- Public Record Office Victoria, "Kelly Historical Collection Part 2: Crown Law Department" (VPRS 4966: the two trial briefs, the capital case file, Redmond Barry's notes, Kelly's dictated letters from Pentridge, Gaunson's petitions).
- Public Record Office Victoria, "Kelly Historical Collection Part 5: Miscellaneous records (1869-1881)" (VPRS 4969: minutes of evidence before the Royal Commission on the Police Force).
- Public Record Office Victoria, "Ned Kelly historical collection" (overview of the six series VPRS 4965 to 4969).
- Old Melbourne Gaol, National Trust of Australia (Victoria), "History" (the hanging of November 11, 1880, the 101st person hanged, the 1929 exhumation, the 2008 rediscovery at Pentridge, the 1972 skull display, its 1978 theft and the 2009 DNA test).
- Old Melbourne Gaol, National Trust of Australia (Victoria), "Ned Kelly's Last Stand" (tour page; the gaol's address at 377 Russell Street).
Cite this article
- APA
- Our Earth's History. (2026, September 22). Fifty-six pages in Joe Byrne's hand: Ned Kelly, 1878–1880. Our Earth's History. https://ourearthshistory.com/oceania/modern/ned-kelly-glenrowan-june-28-1880-jerilderie-letter-prov-executive-council/
- Chicago
- Our Earth's History. “Fifty-six pages in Joe Byrne's hand: Ned Kelly, 1878–1880.” Our Earth's History, September 22, 2026. https://ourearthshistory.com/oceania/modern/ned-kelly-glenrowan-june-28-1880-jerilderie-letter-prov-executive-council/.
- MLA
- “Fifty-six pages in Joe Byrne's hand: Ned Kelly, 1878–1880.” Our Earth's History, 22 Sep. 2026, https://ourearthshistory.com/oceania/modern/ned-kelly-glenrowan-june-28-1880-jerilderie-letter-prov-executive-council/.
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